Former President Donald Trump has put $1.5 million toward new ad buys in early voting states, in what people familiar with the campaign say is part of a plan for significant media investments ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy, said Trump will ramp up his advertising with less than two months before the Republican primary process officially kicks off in Iowa.
The campaign on Tuesday spent about $800,000 targeting Iowa and $700,000 on New Hampshire, the first two nominating states, according to data from AdImpact, which tracks political advertisement spending. It’s Trump’s largest one-day ad buy of the campaign.
The move comes as his two chief rivals for the nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, make a push in those early contests. Trump holds a wide lead over the rest of the GOP field in national polls, but his campaign is eager to avoid any result in Iowa that could give his challengers new life.
Earlier: Trump Beefs Up Iowa Campaign as DeSantis Goes All-In on Caucus
DeSantis trails Trump by around 30 percentage points there, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. He recently picked up two critical endorsements — from Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and on Tuesday night from prominent evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, which could boost his standing. DeSantis’s team is treating Iowa as a make-or-break state, moving more resources there in hopes that a strong finish can give the campaign new momentum.
Haley his risen in the polls and is drawing new donor interest after strong debate performances. The polling average shows her in third place in Iowa and in second place in New Hampshire, where she trails Trump by 27 percentage points.
The rate for advertisements will drop in December, allowing candidates to get more out of their investments, according to the people familiar, part of the motivation to ramp up ad spending.
Trump and allied groups had put $11.2 million into Iowa advertising as of Nov. 22, according to AdImpact, but the latest ad buy reflects the campaign’s largest investment of the cycle. By comparison, DeSantis, and his allied super political action committee have spent about $14.9 million on advertising in Iowa.
Trump has not held as many events in the state as his competitors and has at times been pulled from the campaign trail by his litany of legal challenges. Still he has maintained his large edge in the polls. His campaign also benefits from two cycles worth of voter data which has helped them organize and target voters.